Hundreds Volunteer to Provide Free Health Care to Cleveland’s Uninsured at MedWorks Event

CLEVELAND, Ohio — July 27, 2009 — Hundreds of Cleveland families received free health care this past weekend as part of an all-volunteer effort coordinated by MedWorks (www.medworksusa.org).   It was the first time Cleveland’s major health care institutions came together in a single event to treat the uninsured and underinsured.

The event took place at the W. O. Walker Center and Case Dental School near University Circle, and provided more than 1600 appointments during the two-day event held this past weekend, July 25-26.  Appointments were scheduled by patients in advance to see medical professionals through volunteers from University Hospitals of Cleveland, The Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth System, the Case Western Reserve School of Dental Medicine and many of Cleveland’s private practitioners.  Some individuals benefitted from multiple appointments with a variety of the 20 subspecialties represented at the Clinic that weekend.

“With President Obama’s health-care-reform visit to Cleveland on Thursday and our Medworks event, Cleveland seems to have become the nation’s epicenter for discussing health care this week,” said event organizer and MedWorks founder Zac Ponsky.  “I spoke to many people at our clinic this weekend who hadn’t seen a doctor for five years, some even 10, reinforcing the tremendous need for this type of support.”

Two of Ohio’s political leaders were present to see first-hand the overflow crowd and tremendous demand for health services.  U. S. Senator Sherrod Brown spent part of Saturday morning at the event, even volunteering to man the registration tables for a time.  In addition, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher visited the event and spoke to patients and volunteers Sunday afternoon.

With the event behind it, Ponsky said MedWorks will meet with the local health care providers to discuss care for some of this weekend’s patients, as well as a more ongoing solution for providing care to the uninsured.

“We’re asking the hospitals, doctors, nurses and all healthcare professionals to support our call to volunteer just four hours a year with MedWorks, enabling us to organize a sustainable effort to help the area’s safety net organizations,” Ponsky said.  “That seemingly small commitment of time would provide a groundbreaking level of support, a true breakthrough on behalf of the thousands of uninsured here in Northeast Ohio.”

Ponsky credited our area’s culture of philanthropy with enabling MedWorks to create such an impact.  Some 35companies and organizations donated financial support, time, services and supplies to bring the event together, from food to equipment to buses and critical pharmacy and medical supplies.

“It’s no exaggeration to say many of our patients were grateful to the point of tears for what they experienced this weekend,” Ponsky said.  “We even had some who were so moved they stayed after their own appointments to volunteer themselves to care for others.”